Last April, when tickets went on sale for prog rockers Rush at the Allentown Fair, Richard Middlebrook, 67, waited seven hours for tickets at the fair box office and was first in line for one of his favorite bands.

Middlebrook was back in line at the box office Saturday – waiting less time (two hours) but in much colder weather -- to buy tickets for another band with Rush in its name: new Nickelodeon Channel teen phenoms Big Time Rush, who will play at the Fair on Sept. 4.

Middlebrook, 67, of West Easton, an Ingersoll Corp. retiree, would hardly be the typical attendee at a concert by Big Time Rush, who seem to be the latest object of adolescent frenzy apart from Justin Bieber (who was at the fair last year. But Middlebrook said the tickets weren’t for him, but for his 12 grandchildren.

“They’re like ants,” he said with a laugh. Because of the fair’s six-ticket limit, Middlebrook was joined in the line by his son Michael. Standing 37th and 38th in line, they got seats in the 2nd and 12th rows.

There were plenty of others like Middlebrook among more than 75 people who waited in the cold air Saturday for the box office to open, and the thousands more who bought tickets on line.

Richard Middlebrook buying tickets back in April. He came back for Big Time Rush

While getting hardly the flood of buyers Bieber did when he sold out the fair grandstand in a half hour last spring, there was still enough of a rush to move more than 3,000 tickets in the first half hour of sales for the 10,000-capacity grandstand, fair Marketing Director Bonnie Brosious said.

To put that in perspective, that’s as many tickets as rock band Weezer sold totally to its show at the fair this summer. A minute after the tickets went on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday, 1,000 requests for tickets were queued up in the fair’s computers, Brosious said.

“I’m really glad we got this show in this market,” she said. “With the rides we have, this for kids who are going to make a day of it.”

Brosious said that while Big Time Rush doesn’t yet have Bieber’s popularity, the buzz is building – quickly. She said Allentown was the first fair to book Big Time Rush, but York County Fair and the Delaware State Fair have since followed suit.

“The kids who watch the Nickelodeon show, they know,” Brosious said. The show officially premiered in January.

Teena Wilson of Bethlehem echoed that sentiment. She said the tickets for which she stood in line for 4 1/2 hours were Christmas presents for a her daugher Sydney, 11. “She’s a pretty big fan of the show,” Wilson said.

She and friend Debbie Lyons of Bethlehem, who waited with her, bundled in blankets, with two hours sleep after getting home from her job, were seventh in line and nabbed second-row center seats.

Wilson said she and Sydney waited 15 hours for Bieber tickets.

Fair Security Chief Jim Sprang said the line officially formed with a dozen people at 6 a.m. – that’s when the fair lets people start queuing up – but people told him they had been waiting in their cars off the fair lot for 11 hours before tickets went on sale.

Brosious said the twist with Big Time Rush is that it appeals not just to adolescent girls, but younger boys, as well. The show has the four-member group not only play music, but ice hockey, for example.

“This is ‘The Monkees,’ “ Brosious said, referring to the 1960s television band that similarly interested boys and girls. “Maybe that will cut down on the screams’ at the show, Brosious said with a laugh.

Tanja Maxsill of Coplay echoed that sentiment. She got to the box office at 10 minutes after it opened to buy tickets for her son Mason, 8.

“He loves the show, loves the music,” Maxsill said. “We have to download every new song. He’s pretty excited.” She said it will be his first concert and bought three tickets – she got sixth row grandstand – so she could accompany him and a friend.

Maxsill said he talked with a lot of other people with children her son’s age who also said they wanted o go to the show.

The show is the first the fair has booked for the 2011.

Tickets are $35 and $20, and the fair is offering tickets for all day ride wristbands for $15 more. Tickets are available at the box office (with no additional fees) from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. today, Thursday, Dec. 20, Dec. 21 and Dec. 22 at the box office.

They're also available at www.Ticketmaster.com, over the phone at 800-745-3000 and at Ticketmaster Centers. For more information, visit the fair’s web site at www.allentownfairpa.org.

Michael -
variety of reasons possible for not buying online:
no service charge at box office where as ticketmaster rapes you w "handling fees', box office usually has several front rows where ticketmaster may not (those in line got 2nd row you got 10th) , cash is king vs cc online , those in line may not even have internet (although it sounds crazy not everyone owns a computer or has web access.

Posted By: js | Dec 13, 2010 3:42:13 PM

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JOHN J. MOSER has been around long enough to have seen the original Ramones in a small club in New Jersey, U2 from the fourth row of a theater and Bob Dylan's born-again tours. But he also has the number for All-American Rejects' Nick Wheeler on his cell phone, wrote the first story ever done on Jack's Mannequin and hung out in Wiz Khalifa's hotel room.

OTHER CONTRIBUTORS

JODI DUCKETT: As The Morning Call's assistant features editor responsible for entertainment, she spends a lot of time surveying the music landscape and sizing up the Valley's festivals and club scene. She's no expert, but enjoys it all — especially artists who resonated in her younger years, such as Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Tracy Chapman, Santana and Joni Mitchell.

KATHY LAUER-WILLIAMS enjoys all types of music, from roots rock and folk to classical and opera. Music has been a constant backdrop to her life since she first sat on the steps listening to her mother’s Broadway LPs when she was 2. Since becoming a mother herself, she has become well-versed on the growing genre of kindie rock and, with her son in tow, can boast she has seen a majority of the current kid’s performers from Dan Zanes to They Might Be Giants.

STEPHANIE SIGAFOOS: A Jersey native raised in Northeast PA, she was reared in a house littered with 8-tracks, 45s and cassette tapes of The Beatles, Elvis, Meatloaf and Billy Joel. She also grew up on the sounds of Reba McEntire, Garth Brooks and Tim McGraw and can be found traversing the countryside in search of the sounds of a steel guitar. A fan of today's 'new country,' she digs mainstream/country-pop crossovers like Lady Antebellum and Sugarland and other artists that illustrate the genre's diversity.